Just got back from the field and my remotoring of the Balsacraft Hurricane with the DD Magnetic Mayhem worked out fine.

In case I hadn't mentioned it before this forum has aided me greatly in this mod so thanks very much chaps. Thanks especially for the idea of making the exhaust stacks functional, I knocked some up out of thick heatshrink tube, formed with a heat gun over a wooden mould and with the right colour rusty metal paint they really look the part.

The Hurricane had just sank to the ground on the stock 8.4V Lightspeed 600 motor after handlaunching, but with the Mag Mayhem, 8x4" slimprop and 8x2400RC cells it really flew very well. Getting away from the hand launch could have done with maybe a touch more power- the model feels awfully heavy but is within spec at 50 ounces AUW - it is however an unwieldly beast to handlaunch and Kev did a stirling job. After half- a circuit the model was flying well and climbing out into my attempt at a Hurricane-like barrel roll.

Unfortunately it was rather late in the evening when the first flight came and after flying for a couple of minutes (enough to see that the model is not short of power at all now) I became seriously disorientated in the air. The camouflage scheme was working well and I couldn't tell if I was coming or going. After a couple of turns the wrong way and some hasty manouvering to recover I though I'd better get her down. Deciding to get her down quick I dumb thumbed and missed the flare at the edge of the strip, resulting in a heavy arrival and the fuselage and wing parting company. My son thought that was "Way cool- just like a scene from the film " In the end though it was just a five minute CA repair to some split sheeting, plus the battery strap broke some of the internal crutchwork - so Pilot Officer Prune got away with it this time.

Next mod is to replace the sky undersides with the correct black and white underside halves, in the hope of making this boss-eyed Brian less likely to get disorientated next time.

Brian, I know what you mean about the camouflage. I have to laand mine against a background of tall Pine trees and green hills, they make the model all but disappear. I have the black and white combination for the underneath and it helps when you are high enough to see the underbelly of the model. I fly mine with a 2.8:1 Graupner gearbox, a Leisure 17 turn motor on 8 cells (3000 NiMH), and a Graupner 10 x 6 folder. I find that handlaunches are quite effective with the 10" prop.

I know what you mean with Hurricanes. I have a 30 inch span Hurribox that I converted to rc and it is tough to see it below the tree line-the browns and greens do their job very well. I sympathize with you.

Yup, lost my Cambrian Spit the same way: late evening, drop below the treeline on base, nothing there, sickening WHOMP and the rest of the pieces found the next morning. Oh, well... I have built 3 of these since the 70s, still trying to get the 3rd one airborne (no time!!!). The only thing that justified this was the tears in the eyes of the old vet who saw it fly the evening before.

Have a similar problem with mine although I try to fly it in daylight. I have not dug any holes with it yet though.

The Hurricane is my first serious attempt at a scale(ish) electric flying model and so far I have been pleased with the results. I fly it with an Overlander 625 size motor running off 7 2400mAh cells and with an 8x4 prop. I kept it light with an AUW of 46oz.

If I throw it around I can expect 6-7 minutes but on 1/2 throttle far more.